In order
to transfer files to the Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 youíll have no
other choice than using Intelís proprietary Audio Manager 2.0 software.
Indeed the Personal Audio Player 3000 is unfortunately not provided with
Microsoft Windows Media Player 7/8 compatible drivers. So you wonít be able
to transfer files from your PC to the player using the latest Microsoft
Windows Media Player 8 nor will you be able to do so directly from the
Windows Explorer of Windows XP. Nonetheless Intel Audio Manager 2.0 is far
from being bad software. The first time youíll launch it, a stylish
interface divided in two parts will appear. The left side lets you browse
the directories on your hard disk to find and select audio files while the
right side shows the playerís memoryís content. In each side, MP3 or WMA
files will be displayed along with the artist name, the track name, the
album name, etc. Sure you can choose to sort music files by artists name,
file name, etc. by a single click on a column.

Intel Audio
Manager 2.0 Albums View (click to enlarge)

From the
right panel you can either select, through a drop down list, the internal or
external memory. External memory being a MMC card. Intel Audio Manager 2.0
permanently displays the amount of free memory available for music storage
so you know how much room is left. Transferring your favorite tracks to the
player cannot be done more easily: simply select the files; you want to move
with, in the left panel of Audio Manager 2 and click the ĎTransferí button.
Obviously before doing so you can preview files directly from the software
to make sure the file youíve selected match the song you have in mind. If
youíve selected several files to transfer a dialog box will appear
indicating the progression of each separate file transfer. The transfer
process is painless and will be done in a few minutes thanks to the USB
connection. Sure if ever your selection of files is too big to fit in the
memory, the software will warn you about this problem.

Intel
Audio Manager 2.0 now supports playlists. So you can create your own
playlists directly from the software. It means the software can
automatically generate playlists by artist, album or genre. Thatís pretty
cool to avoid the use of the random feature so you can listen to tracks in
the order you want, with the player.

To use
your MMC cards with Intelís player youíll have to format them using Intel
Audio Manager 2.0. Indeed thereís no way you can use a MMC card where you
have stored MP3 or WMA files using the Windows Explorer through an external
USB MMC card reader. One major drawback to my point of view is once files
are stored on the player[s memory thereís no way to retrieve them! You
canít upload to a PC the MP3 or WMA music stuff recorded on Intel Personal
Audio Player 3000ís memory.

Intel FacePlate Designer

The
player is actually provided with five faceplates. Thankfully if the five
provided faceplates arenít good for you, Intel has included on the CD a
software to help you design your own customized faceplates for the Audio
Player 3000. That way you can print a photo of you girlfriend and stick it
up in the player or you can also create more artistic faceplates by
importing graphic files of your choice onto the design.
It's also possible to add text to your layouts. Thus your player
will be unique featuring your very own look. The faceplate stuff is clearly
a gadget (especially when you consider how awful three of the five inserts
provided with the player are) but it remains funny and attractive for
teenagers, at least I think so.

Intel
FacePlate Designer (click to enlarge)

Listening Music

The first advantage of a digital player is the fact itís skip free. Indeed,
since there are absolutely no mechanical parts, you can move as much as you
wish while listening to music! During the test the small size of the player
impressed us. Itís a real advantage when bringing the player on the road:
having the player clipped to his belt while walking down the streets, buying
groceries, etc. was simply a pleasure. Once youíve put the player in your
pocket or everywhere else, thanks to a very discreet design you can
concentrate on the outstanding music quality it delivers. Thanks to its clip
belt you can easily attach the player next to your portable phone on your
belt. Best
of all the clip belt really ensures a firm grip so the player wonít drop.

Speaking
of music quality we have to say Intel didnít disappoint us! For a
manufacturer, that has barely any experience in the audio world their
product is very good. The sound delivered by the apparatus is quite
impressive. First itís really powerful thanks to the built in 6.5mW
amplifier. This amplifier not only lets you crank it up and listen loud, but
itís really useful to connect the player to a Hi-Fi system.

During
our listening sessions we didnít experience any distortion or any blow
effect which is usually common with digital players. Thanks to a frequency
response of 20- 20 000Hz the player delivers a crisp, sharp, vivid, sound
that sings. The signal to noise ratio of Intelís Personal Audio Player 3000
reaches 90dB which is fairly good. In comparison a tape walkman typically
offers a signal to noise ratio of 70dB while a CD playerí signal to noise
ratio is generally around 98dB. In the audio world the signal to noise ratio
helps to determine the sound quality of a device: more this ratio is high
more the CD is perfect.

Even
though you can manually customize the bass and treble levels of the player
to experience a more contrasted enveloping sound you wonít be able to save
these presets as various equalizer profiles. Thereís also no way to use
predefined equalizer settings like some digital players offer. This is a
real regret even with the positioning of the product. Intel provides the
Personal Audio Player 3000 with gray earphones. Despite the fact they have a
gold platted connector, their design is quite prehistoric! They are way too
big but the worst thing is that they fail to provide a clear sound with deep
bass. Indeed the sound is rather metallic since the earphones donít offer a
correct bass circuit. Thankfully replacing the provided pair by some Sony
ones will solve the problem.

The
playerís autonomy is average. One battery isnít sufficient for a long
lasting autonomy. Intel claims the player offers up to 10 hours of playtime.
The reality is less cheerful, with a recorded autonomy of approximately 5-6
hours. You can replace the battery with a rechargeable one to save batteries
costs.